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In a world where celebrity love stories often unfold like fairy tales, the reality of heartbreak can be just as dramatic.
With red-carpet appearances and adorable press conference quotes galore, these Hollywood matches may have fans tuning in like their favourite rom-com, and similarly to exes Addie and Dylan from The Road Trip, their on-again, off-again romances had us all rooting for their happy ending.
Luckily for fans, many of our favourite A-list love matches long seemed like they were destined to ride off into the sunset, but as we know all too well, even the most passionate reunions can fizzle out. It’s a familiar tale we’ve seen time and time again, not just on screen but in real life too.
Celebrity splits—whether we’re talking about public breakups, messy divorces, or those shocking, sudden splits—have a way of taking over the headlines and leaving us all wondering what went wrong. So, let’s take a look at some of the most headline-making celebrity breakups that made us ask: “What happened to true love?”
Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck
This love story is surely one for the record books! Affleck, 52, and Lopez, 55 – aka Bennifer – first got together in 2002, meeting on the set of the film Gigli, and announced their engagement in November 2002.
However, the intense interest in their relationship became too much and they called off their planned September 14, 2003 wedding just days before exchanging vows. They officially split in January 2004.
Each went on to marry and start a family, before shocking the world when they reunited 17 years later, in April 2021.
By the following April, they were engaged again, marrying in Las Vegas on July 16, 2022. A formal celebration was held on August 20 in Georgia.
But it wasn’t meant to be, and on August 20, 2024, the two-year anniversary of the Georgia ceremony, J.Lo filed for divorce, citing the anniversary of their engagement as their separation date.
Sacha Baron Cohen & Isla Fisher
Aussie actress Fisher, 48, and British funnyman Cohen, 53, met at a party in Sydney in 2001 and instantly hit it off.
During their 22 years together, they managed to keep their relationship under the radar, despite their fame. They were engaged in 2004, with Fisher converting to Judaism in 2007, prior to their wedding – which took place on March 15, 2010.
They welcomed their first child, daughter Olive, in October 2007, daughter Elula in 2010, and son Monty in March 2015.
On April 5, 2024, the pair announced in a joint statement shared to their Instagram Stories that they had quietly filed to end their marriage in 2023.
“After a long tennis match lasting over twenty years, we are finally putting our racquets down,” they captioned a photo of themselves together dressed in their tennis whites. “We forever share in our devotion and love for our children.”
Channing Tatum and Zoe Kravitz
This too-cool-for-school couple set tongues wagging when they first started hanging out in January 2021, after Kravitz, 36, cast Tatum, 44, in her directorial debut, Blink Twice.
In August, they were spotted biking around New York City. They then left the Met Gala together that September, before donning a couple’s costume that Halloween.
Things got serious in 2022, when they acknowledged each other in interviews, with the father-of-one accompanying his girlfriend to the New York premiere of The Batman, alongside her stepdad, Jason Momoa.
By October 2023, they were engaged, and in August 2024, they were loved-up at the LA premiere of Blink Twice and gushing about working together. However, by October, multiple sources confirmed to People that the pair had called off their engagement, revealing they “haven’t been on the same page and grew apart”.
Megan Fox & Machine Gun Kelly
After meeting on the set of the film Midnight in the Switchgrass in March 2020, Fox, 38, and MGK – real name Colson Baker – became inseparable.
Fox – who has three sons from her marriage to Brian Austin Green – was revealed to have split from her husband that May. On July 22, 2020, Fox and MGK, 34 – who also has a daughter from a prior relationship – gave their first joint interview on the Give Them Lala podcast, gushing about being “twin flames”.
On January 11, 2022, the couple revealed their engagement, but the following February, Fox suggested via Instagram that they had broken up. By May 2023, a source told People the couple were “back together”.
On November 11, 2024, Fox announced their pregnancy. Sadly, just shy of a month later, on December 10, multiple sources reported the couple had broken up again. According to People, Fox was “blindsided” by the split and has “been distraught”.
Barry Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter
Rumours first swirled that pop star Carpenter, 25, and actor du jour Keoghan, 32, were dating in late 2023.
After going public in February 2024, Keoghan was spotted supporting his girl, who opened for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and wowed at Coachella.
By May, they posed together at the Met Gala, and in June, Keoghan starred as the love interest in Carpenter’s ‘Please Please Please’ music video.
Since August, break-up rumours flew, which the pair occasionally denied. However, by early December, they were definitely off, with a source telling Entertainment Tonight that “things didn’t end well”.
Amid cheating rumours, the father-of-one deactivated his Instagram account and posted a statement to X asking people to be “respectful”.
Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott
Spelling and McDermott, 58, were both married when they met on 2005’s Mind Over Murder.
Less than a month after Spelling, 51, finalised her divorce from Charlie Shanian, and after McDermott’s split from Mary Jo Eustace – with whom he has a son – the pair were married on May 7, 2006.
They welcomed son Liam on March 13, 2007, then daughter Stella on June 9, 2008. On October 10, 2011, they had daughter Hattie. Son Finn was born on August 30, 2012. By March 2013, rumours spread of marital issues, which Spelling refuted.
But in January 2014, McDermott admitted to cheating and entered rehab. The couple stayed strong throughout and, in April 2016, McDermott re-proposed. Six months later they were expecting again, welcoming son Beau on March 2, 2017.
McDermott announced their split on June 17, 2023, with Spelling filing for divorce on March 29, 2024.
